Bottle lifter



NOV, 25, 1952 w M STEWART 2,619,373

BOTTLE LIFTER Filed April 11, 1949 INVENTOR WILSON MARKS STEWART Big-2 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 25, 1952 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE BOTTLE LIFTER Wilson Marks Stewart, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Application April 11, 1949, Serial No. 86,817

4: Claims. 1

My invention relates to a bottle lifter.

This lifter is particularly adapted, and was designed for use in a vending machine of the kind in which the stored bottles are lifted one by one and carried to an ejection position by the lifter. Such a vending machine is shown in my Patent No. 2,284,931; in this patent is also shown a bottle lifter of which the lifter of the present invention is an improvement.

The lifter of my prior patent showed in practice a number of weaknesses which my improved lifter overcomes.

A feature of my improved lifter is that the bottle does not easily detach itself therefrom, so that the bottle does not fall from the lifter when the same is manipulated to bring the bottle to its ejection position and to lift the bottle toward the ejection opening to be grasped by the operators fingers and withdrawn from the machine.

Another feature is that the bottle-grasping fingers of the lifter are easily attached to, and easily detached from their supporting member.

Still another feature-is that the fingers are not apt to be deformed or mutilated or otherwise rendered ineffective by the careless and rough manipulation of the bottle as when it is being manually removed from the grasp of the fingers.

In the drawing, wherein like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the various figures,

Figure l is a side view of the preferred form of my improved lifter, the handle stem being in part broken off;

Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 in: Figure l; and,

Figure 3 is a section on about line 3--3 in Figure 2, showing a typical finger in the position ocoupied when the bottle is being manually removed cr lifted from the grasp of the fingers.

As already stated, the lifter is used in a vending machine of the kind shown in my Patent No. 2,284,931. In such a. machine, the bottle is grasped by the fingers of the'lifter and carried to its ejection position below an opening. As the bottle is being carried to its. ejecting position, the handle stem of the lifter" moves through an elongated narrow slot in the top or cover (usually glass) of the machine. When in its ejecting position, the bottle is lifted until the bottle cap is close to the lid, when it is grasped by two or more of the operators fingers and withdrawn from the machine through the ejection opening. Lifting the bottle carelessly or roughly will bring the bottle cap in rude or violent contact with the lid and the bottle is likely to detach itself from the fingers of the lifter and fall to the floor of the machine, unless some means, say, a guard, is provided above the fingers to come into contact with the lid. Furthermore, in manually lifting the bottle through the ejection opening, a careless operator will attempt to lift the bottle through the lifters fingers not vertically but sideways at the top, so that some of the lifters fingers will be unevenly and unnecessarily flexed, thereby permanently deforming the same. By providing a guard as aforesaid, say in the form of a ring, and properly positioning the same, the fingers will only flex to a limited and safe extent, the upper ends of the fingers engaging the inside of the ring, therefore limiting their bending or flexing. Also, when carrying the bottle toward its ejecting position, the operator often drags the bottle along the floor of the machine, so that the bottle turns or tilts to one side and the bottle is apt to detach itself from the lifter. By providing a ring below the fingers and properly positioning the same, the bottle will come into contact with the inside of the ring and will be held substantially in a vertical position, that is, parallel with the longitudinal axis of the lifter, thereby preventing, to a great extent, the bottle from detaching itself from the lifter and dropping to the bottom of he machine. Moreover, by providing one ring, or preferably both rings, as aforesaid, the bottle will not easily detach itself from the grasp of the operators fingers once the fingers do engage the neck of the bottle, since the bottle is not free to any great extent to tilt sideways.

My improved lifter has been given the most rigid test, having been manipulated very carelessly and roughly and has proved entirely satisfactory, in that it is very difficult for a bottle to detach itself except in the prescribed and intended manner, namely, when being withdrawn manually through the ejection opening,

Referring now by numerals to the drawing, i ii are the lifting fingers or elements of the lifter. They are disposed in a circular arrangement, equally angularly spaced.-

Conveniently, the finger takes the form substantially of a U (see Figure 2-), being defined by two leg portions H, and a transverse, upper, intermediate portion l2 adapted to engage the neck of the bottle B and engage the edge of the skirt of the metal cap 0. The lower ends of the legs H are extending and formed into coils or loops l3. The fingers proper are preferably so spaced as to provide spaces wide enough to enable fingers of the operator to be inserted therethrough to reach and grasp the neck of the bottle when the lifter is in operative or bottle-grasping position, as in Figure l. The outer or last coil of each spring [3 is extended into an anchoring portion 14 which is passed through a ring l rigid with an elongated member or hub IS. The plane of the ring is at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the hub. The portions M which attach the finger in operative position is bent or clinched below the ring, as at 11, thereby removably attaching the finger to the ring. The coils, being effectively interposed between the fingers proper and the ring, act as coil springs yieldingly resisting the flexing of the finger (upwardly) from its normal position. A finger so constructed is easily attached to, and as easily detached from the ring.

Rigidly secured to the hub l6, parallelly with and above the ring 15, is a second ring or guard i8. This ring is so positioned that it will lie above the bottle cap when the fingers are flexed upwardly, in operative engagement with the bottle cap, as best seen in Figure 1, or when they are fully flexed and engage the inside of the ring, as best seen in Figure 3. Thus, if the lifter is raised against the inside of the machine lid, the guard l3 and not the bottle cap C will engage the lid, so that the bottle will not easily detach itself from the fingers. Moreover, the fingers, when fully flexed against the guard, will not be damaged or permanently deformed.

Preferably, a third ring 20 is provided below and parallelly with the ring IS, the ring 29 rigidly extending at right angles from the hub. This ring is so positioned that the bottle, when operatively suspended from the fingers, as seen in Figure 1, will be fairly close to the inside of the ring so as to provide limited scope to movement of the bottle sideways at the bottom. Thus, if the operator drags the bottle on the floor of the vending machine, as when he is moving the bottle toward ejecting position, the bottle will not appreciably tilt or turn sideways witl'nn the rings [5 and I8, and therefore will not detach itself from the grasp of the fingers. The lifter is manipulated by a handle 2| attached to the upper end of a rigid rod 22 secured in the hub.

Operation The lifter is lowered over the bottle to be lifted or raised until the fingers slide over the neck. The lifter is then raised to cause the upper ends of the fingers to become lodged under the lower edge of the skirt of the bottle cap. The bottle can now be bodily lifted by the device. The bottle is carried to its ejecting position under the ejection opening, and the bottle raised until the ring 18 engages the underside of the machine lid. The neck of the bottle can now be grasped by two or more fingers of the operator, and the bottle lifted between the lifter fingers and the bottle withdrawn from the machine.

I claim:

1. A bottle lifter comprising an elongated member, a ring carried by said member substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis thereof, a plurality of radially-directed resilient elements carried by said ring and having outer portions formed to engage an upper portion of the bottle to lift the bottle when the lifter is raised, and a second ring carried by said member above said first ring in substantially parallelism therewith, said rings being of an inside diameter such as to receive the bottle lengthwise when the lifter is lowered over the bottle, and said second ring being positioned to be engaged by said elements to determine their outwardly flexed position.

2. In a bottle lifter, an elongated member, spaced lower and upper rings rigidly carried by said member and extending in parallel planes substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said member and of an inside diameter to receive the bottle lengthwise by lowering the lifter thereover, and a plurality of resilient elements carried by said lower ring by which the bottle is lifted and formed to engage said upper ring when flexed outwardly, the effective length of said elements being only such that their outer bottle-engaging ends lie below the upper plane of said upper ring when said elements are flexed thereagainst.

3. In a bottle lifter, an elongated member, spaced substantially parallel lower and upper rings rigid with said member and extending in planes substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of said member, said rings being of an inside diameter such as to receive the bot tle lengthwise as when the lifter is lowered thereover, a plurality of resilient elements carried by said lower ring and formed to engage an upper portion of the bottle to raise the same when the lifter is raised and to engage said upper ring when flexed outwardly, the effective length of said elements being only such that their upper bottle-engaging ends lie below the upper plane of said upper ring when said elements are flexed outwardly thereagainst, and a third ring rigid with said elongated member and disposed below said lower ring of an inside diameter such as to receive the bottle lengthwise and preventing substantial lateral displacement of the bottle when suspended by said elements.

4. In a bottle lifter, an elongated member, a ring rigid with said member and extending laterally from said member in a plane substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis thereof, and a plurality of bottle-engaging elements carried by said ring; said element comprising a substantially U-shaped finger, integral coiled portions one on either side of said finger bearing upon said ring, and end portions passed through said ring and clinched thereunder effectively to secure said element in operative position.

WILSON MARKS STEWART.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

